Saturday, January 14th, 2012 at 10:30 am  |  42 responses

I Love/Hate Kobe

Casey has beef with the game’s most pure scorer.

by Casey Jacobsen

Kobe Bean Bryant, playing in his 16th year in the NBA, refuses to give up his top-dog status among the elite players. This condensed season is only 12 games old, but Kobe’s recent play is fueling discussions about him still being the best pure scorer in the League despite the younger LeBron James and Kevin Durant nipping at his heels.

Following the Lakers’ embarrassing Playoff loss to Dallas last season, many people wondered if his reign over the League might be coming to an end. But it’s not over. Not even close. Kobe is one of the all-time greatest players to ever play this game. He’s the closest thing we have ever seen to Michael Jordan…but I still don’t like him.

(Note: I know that Kobe doesn’t care at all if I like him or not…after all, who am I? But this is my blog, so I will assume that some of the readers might care. Let’s move on.)

Kobe is one of the most polarizing athletes in the League for a reason; through all of his success that he has earned, he rubs a lot of people the wrong way. It’s in his body language on the court, or the way he shoots over double-teams even though his capable teammates are unguarded, or when he gives himself the nickname “Black Mamba.”

Even his spectacular games sometimes make me cringe, like when he scored a Madison Square Garden record of 61 points in 2009, coupled with 0 rebounds and 3 assists. As impossible as it is to score that many points in the NBA on the road, it’s equally impossible to have that kind of athleticism and not get a single rebound.

Shaq, one of the most likable players in NBA history, hated playing with him. Even the best NBA coach of our lifetime, Phil Jackson, described Kobe in his most recent book as being “uncoachable.” Look, that’s not my opinion or that of a die-hard Celtics fan. That’s the opinion of his coach! Kobe’s a great player and athlete, but is too much to ask him to be coachable? Is it too much to ask him to put his differences aside and get along with the best NBA center of the past 15 years so they could continue winning titles? I don’t think so.

Most Kobe fanatics will tell you that he has to be the way he is (arrogant, selfish, etc.) in order to be as good as he is. Those people will also tell you that MJ was the same way and that’s why he won all those titles. After all, how can we expect Kobe to be a “killer” on the court and a good teammate? Can one not exist without the other?

Maybe we should ask Bill Russell.

Casey Jacobsen is a former SLAM High School First-Team All-American and NCAA First-Team All-American. He currently plays for Brose Baskets in Bamberg, Germany.

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  • namik

    Shaq is “one of the most likable players in the NBA”? Really? Is that why so many people think of him as a major a-hole? I’m a Lakers fan and I could barely stand his constant bullying even if other people thought he was “just joking”. Not to mention that most teams could not stand Shaq for more than a couple of seasons. And Phil called him “uncoachable” and then went back to coach him the next year. Wonder what that says about him.

  • lemannequin

    I think you should read aain phil jackson interview when he came back to the Lakers….
    http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2177339
    ths is still another hater article!! phil jackson called him uncoachable because he thought that running the offense through kobe was a bad idea, that shaq wxas the better option.. what happened 2 years later?? h came back with the same triangle offense and run the offense through bryant and what happened wth that?? 3 consecutive finals and 2 nba championship and 2 final mvp (of course with the help of pau gasol, but tell me one player, in the history of the game that won by himself, even shaq needed kobe to get those 3 rings)

    kobe was arrogant back then i give u that (i actually didnt like him also) but once shaq left, he wasnt as arrogant as before,he wanted to prove that he can win one without shaq (well he did won 2 consecutives, somethin that even shaq couldnt do with d wade and without kobe)

    and kobe being a bad teammate?? well if you only listen to players like smush parker who one said that in 2007 “the problem with the lakers starts and end with kobe (well later he played for miami, and the suns, and couldnt even be a starter and last one full season with either of them, so i think yeah kobe was alsothe problem)

    kobe isnt a bad teammate!! if so, then tell me why
    1-lamar odom cried on the phone with espn when he learned that he was gonna be traded
    2-Derek fisher, a guy that everybody loved around the league, came back to play with bryant..
    3- a crazy guy like metawolrd peace always wanted to play with kobe, and he love it over there

    kobe knows his role even off the court, he said that it was lamar odom who was the joker of the team and that d fish was the spiritual voice of the team and that he cant replace that cos hes a more private person!!!

    I think you should upgrade your hate, or else kobe will make you ur blo with another ring!!

  • http://Juanm.Garcia@comcast.net Mr. Right

    You’re right! Who gives a fk what you have to say?

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    Casey, you should know better than to question Kobe’s tactics. His minions are on every site ready to attack whoever does. Don’t ever criticize Kobe and you will last long in this business.

  • Kadavour

    this is just a bad article.

  • http://www.youtube.com/heh8meN1 heh8meN1

    Kobe’s shovel is sharp, and his pick is sharp, and his will is outstanding. BREAKING NEWS h8trz, in 2012:

    The RESOLUTION WILL be Televised.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shszVjdi0dM

  • boyer

    Wow, this is a bad article. Shaq has left all of his teams on bad terms, except the c’s(did he even play in boston). Great quote from Phil, not. Obviously that was a knee jerk reaction/quote. If Kobe was uncoachable, then why did Phil come back and coach him for 6 more years? You might want to rethink that one.

    And this is why people hate fans like you. He scores the most pts. in MSG history, and you complain that he didn’t have a rebound. Really? You’re one of those people who always have something bad to say about Kobe no matter what he does. Should he run out of bounds trying to get that last rebound for a triple double like lebron or try to steal rebounds from his teammates like lebron often does? That’s ridiculous. Not to say what lebron does is necessarily bad, but to criticize Kobe for not having a rebound when he played awesome is utterly ridiculous. This is a prime example of bias getting in the way of competent reporting.

  • David

    why are kobe fans so defensive? kobe is an amazing athlete and definite hall of famer, but he just seems so personally inaccessible that it makes me hard to like him.

  • http://www.alllooksame.com Tarzan Cooper

    ZzzzzzZzzzzzZzzzZZZ

  • Jose Ortiz

    Is this the Bleacher Report? Ha! This has barely any substance and the little that it does is outdated at best.
    Ugh. Thanks for nothing, Casey. Can I have that 90 seconds of my life back? Please?
    SlamOnline, this is uber bush league and atypical.

  • Chris

    man, this was just dumb. I guess anything can be posted on slam these days.

  • http://www.slamonline.com spit hot fiyah

    i really liked your earlier articles, but this one just seems like something u wrote down in 5 minutes without thinking it through. i’m neutral on kobe so i’m not trying to defend any position here, but you r a much better writer than this.

  • Heals

    Nice try Casey, if you don’t already (which I think you do) take the “hate” of your “hate” in stride cause most the heads doin it are so clearly out-of-touch with Kob, the game and the critique of the 2 that it’s a fruitless drain of energy which yields no return to try and explain/extraplate how your critique isn’t about his talent. “Terrible piece,” “this is just bad,” H8tr!,” “The ‘Resolution’ Will not be televised (my fav),” I mean look at you’re audience Cas, it’s hilarious. These folks just live in a different world than the rest of us. Once a Bean-bag always a Bean-bag…

  • TheCarsonist

    In his most recent book, which was about oh six or so years ago, he called Kobe uncoachable. Things have changed since then. He’s won two championships under that same coach. Don’t use evidence that really isn’t useful.

  • http://Slamonline.com Caboose

    Let’s start this way: I don’t like Kobe. He’s overly arrogant and a selfish teammate. But how on earth can you question his tactics when he wins? If he had no rings, then sure, I get it. But he’s got 5. Not to mention, why is LA always mentioned as a top free agent destination? Kobe gets results. Not to mention that the evidence you used is both outdated (Phil quote from 6 years ago) and weak (complaining about rebounds?). Would that Knicks game have been better if Kobe had 20 points and 10 rebounds? What are you even complaining about? That Kobe isn’t Bill Russell or Tim Duncan (who would have been a better example)? Sorry that Kobe wins in a way you don’t like, but he wins. The same complaints can be leveled at any player for not winning the Russell style because NOBODY ELSE HAS. It’s moronic the claims you’re making. I’m sorry to go off like this but this is unarguably the most biased, least researched, and overall most pathetic excuse for journalism posted on this website.

  • http://www.alllooksame.com Tarzan Cooper

    Gotdam! Caboose choppin roots! Lmao

  • http://Juanm.Garcia@comcast.net The Brown Ricardo Kamlez

    I hate my stepfather. My father was so lovable but he never made my mom cummm. My stepfather is such an asswhole. He makes her cumm 5 times. I hate that asswhole!

  • Jake

    It’s interesting how similar the attitudes and demeanor of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant are. Is all of that venom necessary to have that killer “win at all costs” instinct? Guys like Duncan, Robinson, Olajuwan, etc. seem to indicate otherwise.

    Bryant’s and Jordan’s amazing accomplishments at the highest level–especially ELEVEN championships–(should) speak for themselves, but that doesn’t mean we have to like them. It’s not all chalked up to them as individuals, however–I do think the star treatment they’ve receive from the League, although net beneficial to them, has certainly amplified a lot of opposing fans’ resentment.

  • Jeremy

    So you want him to be more personable? How about he just does his job as a professional athlete, He doesn’t care what you or I or anyone else thinks, that’s the best part about him. Being focused on what you want and getting up early and staying late to work on your craft separates people, he is top 5 all time, and you are writing baseless, hater articles. Seven paragraphs to describe the greatest player of our generation- best pure scorer was obviously Iverson- is hardly appropriate. Basically if I wrote this article, I would get kicked out of my house.. mostly because my mom being an English professor hates crappy, unplanned writing, but 10% of getting my ass whupped/getting kicked out would be for the lies I dared write about Kobe.

  • b. angus

    anyone who knows that it’s all about lebrno, the greatest player ever…in any sport, book it!!!

  • Chukaz

    This is the worst article ever. I’ve read a lot of stuff by chris palmer over on espn and this is still the worst article EVER. This is the Kwame Brown of articles. This is like watching Damon Jones trying to dribble the ball against pressure. It’s just sad. You wanna know why Kobe couldn’t get along with Shaq? It was because while Kobe was busting his @$$ in the gym, Shaq was making bad rap music, AND was the 1st option on offense. Kobe worked hard to be the best player in the world and he was not gonna be denied by Shaq, who didn’t work as hard as he could’ve. His problem with Phil is that Phil was encouraging Shaq and he vilified Kobe, like he did with Pippen. Kobe was Phil’s scapegoat despite the fact that he was his hardest worker. And please don’t tell me you compared Kobe and MJ to Bill Russell. Bill Russell was a winner and a class act, but a killer he wasn’t. He played on teams that had future hall of famers at the end of the bench. Kwame Brown coulda won championships with those crews. You don’t average 17 points per game at a time when Wilt was averaging 44 and get to be called a “killer”. You wanna know why Kobe didn’t get a rebound against the Knicks? It was because the Lakers paid something like 40 million dollars a year for 21 feet forth of PF/Cs to take care of the rebounding. There’s a reason why Kobe’s shooting over double teams bro. Have you seen the Lakers play? None of the perimeter players could make a shot to save their lives and Gasol is playing like a b*tch. Bynum’s aggressive but he can’t find the bottom of the net most of the time.

  • http://www.slamonline.com big_ticket

    still hate kobe,he just love himself scoring in bunches…

  • Arthur

    Not a great article, but the responses are a bit over the top, no?

  • Drig

    TBH, Kobe’s one of the better liked and respected players around the L….Kinda says something about him doesn’t it???

  • logues

    this article is no dumber(?) than the morons getting so worked up about it and prolly losing sleep over it.

  • dazzy

    Co-sign logues 45,000x. Y’all cat’s Kobe crushes making you write equally long, emotional responses makes you way worse than Casey.

  • http://slamonline Andre

    this article is terrible,he is taking things out of context,clearly a kobe hater.As i always say you can hate the Mamba,but you have to respect his game.yes i am a huge fan but when he is wrong or makes a bad play i admit it.The Mamba is the best scorer and player in the league and he’s not even healthy haters.

  • Chad

    Great article Case!!

  • http://www.alllooksame.com Tarzan Cooper

    Don’t lie chad

  • http://bedotwater.bandcamp.com BE.water

    Casey is mad that he couldnt guard Kobe if his life depended on it.

  • http://SLAM assasin13

    this guy is just a hater ! kobe is a beast point blank hands down

  • André C. L.

    I agree with everything!

    It’s so boring watch him plays!

  • rkirby

    This looks like one of the examples of what not to write for your SAT essay…wow

  • mike

    Since Casey is not a Journalist it’s a bit unfair to say this is bad Journalism.

  • RJ

    shaq and Phil might have thought him uncoachable BUT he gets results. isnt that what matters?

  • robb

    I’m a huge Kobe fan I love watching him play, I have my 24 tshirt and all, but I’m objective enough to realize he’s not by any means perfect. There are times when many of the shots he takes are so forced he makes me wanna smash my head against the wall, so I understand why haters say what they say about him.

  • golakeshow

    this article sucks

  • Allenp

    Damn people were mad.

  • Luke

    I hate Kobe as well, but I expected a much more well written, and well thought out post from a Stanford grad. This looks like it was written by a jealous high school kid.

  • JumpinJack

    Casey, you’re a failed NBA 1st round pick. Enjoy your German career and drop the jealousy over Kobe not wanting to be friends.

  • Mjm

    This guy went to Stanford?! #yikes

  • JumpinJack

    He did yes, but seems like a very long time ago in his blogs.

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